By some measures, the U.S. unemployment-scape looks like it is locked in a very slow recovery. The August jobs number – 96,000 created – is nowhere what’s needed to shrink the unemployment rolls — and it follows after months of similarly anemic figures.

But if you split the numbers differently, they actually look much worse. America’s public sector is still in a recession. In August 7,000 public sector jobs were lost and that follows 9,000 public sector jobs that were lost in July. Local government payrolls have been especially hard hit. Since 2009, more than 500,000 local government jobs have been lost.

That’s fewer teachers in the classroom and fewer police and road crews on the streets. But maybe more important in an election year, it makes for real economic hardship as jobs and the economy dominate the political discussion. That economic pain has not been spread evenly, and the way it’s been spread may have real implications in November.

Click on the graphic for a larger image.

Look closely at where the local government jobs have been lost (the red and beige counties on the map above) and you’ll notice some obvious patterns. Some electorally important states have gotten off fairly lightly — note Florida and Virginia. But in some key state battlegrounds the losses in public sector employment have been broad and far-reaching – see Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin.

The numbers may hold particular challenges for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. While persistent high unemployment overall is a serious drag for President Obama, as it is for all incumbents, high public sector unemployment can be challenging for Republicans.

Republicans don’t generally do well with public sector employees. After all, favoring smaller government is not a stance that generally wins the support of government workers. And the path to winning the votes of public sector employees has been made tougher for Republicans in 2012 by recent action by GOP governors in Wisconsin and Ohio aimed at limiting the power of public unions.

Just last week, the Fraternal Order of Police, one public sector union that often favors Republicans, announced it would not support anyone for president this year. The FOP, which backed the Republican presidential nominee in 2000, 2004 and 2008, reportedly was unhappy with Mr. Romney’s support of Ohio’s public union measure.

But, beyond that, the types of counties hit hard by the public sector job losses could be troubling to the GOP.

Using the Patchwork Nation demographic/geographic breakdown of counties, the biggest loses of in public sector jobs have come in Latino-heavy Immigration Nation counties. Polls have repeatedly shown Mr. Romney struggles with the Latino vote and local government cuts in those locales may not help him in his broader message of wanting to cut the federal government.

And local government cuts in the small-town rural counties that Patchwork Nation calls Service Worker Centers may also hurt him in key states. The local government cuts in the Service Worker counties (2.6% of all local public sector jobs) are not as dramatic as those in other places – many other types, including the wealthy Monied Burbs have seen steeper losses – but they are arguably more significant.

Wealthier places like the Burbs generally hold more options for the unemployed, opportunities for jobs in everything from office parks to retail. But that’s less true in the Service Worker Centers, which have seen higher unemployment for a longer period of time.

Since the downturn the unemployment numbers in the Service Worker counties have generally sat 1 point or more above the national average. Look at the map below of the most recent county unemployment numbers in those key states and you’ll see higher numbers in those more rural locales.

Even before the recession, though, long-term economic shifts left many of the Service Worker counties struggling as small manufacturing declined. Local government jobs in those places with the county, the fire department or the local school district are often some of the best-paying jobs available and they offer good benefits. When those jobs disappear, they are hard to replace.

The question for Mr. Romney is whether all those public-sector job losses, particularly in the Great Lakes region, will hurt him as his campaign focuses on austerity and fiscal belt-tightening.

We’ve written about Mr. Romney’s challenges in reaching small-town rural voters in the past and poll data from this week seemed to confirm some of those problems. Mr. Romney is down by some seven percentage points in Ohio overall, but also down by seven percentage points in the eastern part of the state, where those Service Worker counties dominate.

To be sure, local public-sector cuts are not always directly related to efforts to trim government. A growing economy and tax base, like the kind Mr. Romney is promising in the campaign, may well lead to employment growth for local governments. But in campaigns rhetoric, he often centers on broad binary debates like “more government or less.”

And in that environment, the loss of local government jobs may be working against his calls for cuts.

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.